St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-06-04
THE NATIONAL DRILL.
DR. TALMAGE AT WASHINGTON.
Eloquent Discourse to. q Military
Congregation.

Congregation.
WASHINGTON, May 29.-Soldiers of the
national drill listened this afternoon to a
sermon bv the Rev. r. Dewitt Talmage
ID. Soldiers from thirty-one States
and Territories were present, and nine
teen governors and their stats. Wash
ington is full of strangers attendant upon
the national drill, having for it's object
Improvement in military science, which
began May % and will close tomorrow.
The music before and after the sermon
this afternoon was conducted by military
bands DR.. Talmage's texts were taken
from Chronicles xii, SO: FIFTY thousand
which could keep rank" and Judges Xxx.
IS: Every one could sling stones at a
hair-breadth and not miss" The preacher
said
Companies of infantry, cavalry, artfl
1ery and zouaves, please, notice the first
Scripture passage applauds the soldiers
of Zebulun because they were disciplined
troops. They may have been inefficient
at the start and laughed at by old soldiers
because they seemed so clumsy in the
line, but it was drill, drill, drill until they
could keep step as one man. Fifty
thousand which could keep rank" The
second Scripture passage applauds regi
ment of singers in the tribe of Benjamin
because they are dexterous marksmen.
When they first enlisted they may have
been an awkward squad and all their
fingers were thumbs, but they practiced
until when they aimed at mark they
always hit it. every one could sling
a stone at hair-breadth and not miss"
Both texts combining to show us that if
we must fight we should do it well.
There is something absorbing in the
military science of the Bible. In olden
times all the men between twenty and fifty
years of age were enrolled in the army
and then levy was made for a special
service. There were only three or four
classes exempt; those who had built
house and had not occupied it; those
who had planted a garden and had not
reaped the fruit of it; those who were
engaged to be married and yet had not
led the bride to the altar; those who
were yet in the first year of welded life.
those who were SO nervous that they
could not look upon an enemy but they
fled and could not look upon blood but
they tainted.
The army was in three divisions-the
centre and right and left wings. The
weapons of defense were helmet, shield |
breastplate, buckler. The weapons of |
offense were sword, spear, javelin, arrow
was merely bow swung |
by machinery, shooting arrows at vast
distances, great arrows, one arrow as
large as several men could lift, and bal
lista, which was sling swung by
machinery, hurting great rocks and large
pieces of lead to vast distances. The
shields were. made of woven willow
work with three thicknesses of hide and
a loop inside through which the arm of
the warrior might be thrust; and when
these soldiers were marching to attack
an enemy on the level, all these shields
touched each other, making wall
moving but impenetrable; and then
when they attacked fortress and tried
to capture battlement this shield was
lifted over the head SO as to resist the
falling missiles. The breastplate was
made of two pieces of leather, brass Gov
cred, one piece falling over the breast,
the other falling over the back. At the
side of the warrior the two pieces
with buttons or clasps.
The bows were so stout and stiff and
strong that warriors often challenged
each other to bend one. The strings of
he bow were made from the sinews of
oxen. A case like an inverted pyramid
was fastened to the back, that case con-
aiming the arrows, so that when the
warrior wanted to use an arrow he would
,ut his arm over his shoulder and pull
'orth the arrow for the fight. The ankle
If the foot had an iron boot. When a
vail was to be assaulted battering ram
vas brought up. A battering ram was a
treat beam swung on chains in equilib
ium. The battering ram would be
,rought close up to the wall and then q
,reat number Of men would take hold of
his beam, push it back as far as they
;ould and then let go, and the beam be-
anne great swinging pendulum of de-
truction.
Twenty or forty men would stand in a
Movable tower on the back of an elephant.
he elephant made drunk with wine, and
hen headed toward the enemy, and what
With the heavy feet and the swinging